Happy Holidays! (The Making of Mr. Fish)

About 5 years ago, I caught my first bass. It was a tiny bass, just a baby, and it had a big chunk on his back missing (a long-since healed battle wound probably from a snapping turtle). I looked at its ridiculous face, huge, gaping mouth, fat, portly body and thought, "you're the cutest fish ever!"

I threw it back, and cast again. I wanted to see another one.

"Mr.Fish" is no particular fish, he actually seems a little whale-like. But he is a fish (I didn't draw lungs, did I?) and in this case, he's cold. As am I.

Here is an over-wordy description of how I painted it.

Each painting I make starts with a pencil sketch. I start with light pencil lines, building up to darker, more definitive lines, and then traced over with black pen (to show the sketch who's the boss). I then transfer the drawing to my painting surface (usually bristol board, but in this case, canvas board).

I then paint a ground onto my painting surface (fancy term for painting the board all one color). I chose lemon yellow for this ground.

Once I have a ground down, I can start to paint. I chose a color triad this time: blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange. I start with the background first, working my way towards the foreground.

Once all of the basic color, shadows, and highlights are down, I create deeper shadows and slight outlines on, and around the fish. I use a pre-made mixture made of blue and brown, watered down.

This is the final result. I left out the ice fisherman from the original sketch. I decided I didn't need him. Sorry, man.

I got more work online! www.portfolios.com/nancymichaud